Friday, 18 December 2009

Laitinen’s dark aesthetics combine northern melancholy with precise cuts, luxurious materials and subtle detailing. Before combining their efforts to form the label, Anna worked in fine art and Tuomas worked as a fashion writer and stylist, after graduating from the prestigious MA Fashion Course at London’s Central St. Martins in 2004.The first collection by Tuomas and Anna Laitinen won special mention from the jury prize at the Hyères Festival 2006. The award was strongly supported by the festival’s guest judge Ann Demeulemeester, and it enabled the Finnish brother and sister team to collaborate with the renowned Italian fabric manufacturers Puntoseta and launch their label “Laitinen” for Autumn/Winter 2007. The 1st Laitinen collection was immediately picked up by select boutiques worldwide including Maria Luisa in Paris and Midwest in Tokyo. Anna and Tuomas Laitinen’s work has also been featured in Hywel Davies’ book 100 New Designers ( Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2008) and they have also collaborated with photographer Nick Knight’s Showstudio.com. For the first 5 seasons Laitinen collections included looks for both men and women. However in autumn 2009 Anna & Tuomas Laitinen decided to take a one season break to restructure their company and fully concentrate on the growing demand for the label’s menswear. The Laitinens’ 1st menswear-only collection for spring-summer 2010 was presented during Milan men’s fashion week in June 2009. Now Laitinen moves it's press relations to Paris and will present their Fall Winter 2010-11 collection during Paris menswear fashion week in January 2010.